Saturday, October 5, 2013

Shadow Born Blog Tour and Character Interview

Me: First of all, thank you Jennifer, for having us as guests on your blog. I’m Nicole Camp, and I’ll be interviewing Raffin Tys of the book “Shadow Born” releasing October 14th from Entranced Publishing. And Mr. Tys has kindly agreed to answer some fun questions for us on this blog post today.

Raffin: Please call me Raffin, when you say ‘Mr. Tys’ I think my dad is here for the interview.

*chuckles quietly*

Me: Alright Raffin, are you ready to start the interview?

Raffin: As ready as I’m going to be. This is my first interview.

Me: Ever?

Raffin: Ah yeah, pretty much.

Me: Well, lets start off by asking what is the strangest thing you have ever eaten?

Raffin: Humanly speaking, Texas style menudo. Tripe is pretty rubbery when you try to chew it. Otherwise, consuming energy is pretty weird at times, as are the different sources it comes from. Yeah, I absorb and eat energy like people drink their morning coffee.

Me: Speaking of beverages, do you prefer coffee to tea or hot chocolate?

Raffin: On Earth, I like Rootbeer. It’s my favorite soda. I know, I sound like I’m like twelve or something - but I like sugar.

Me: I have a chocolate addiction myself, so you’re not alone with the sugar thing. Now, next quirky question; if you had to go on a dangerous adventure, Raffin, who would you take along and why?

Raffin: It totally depends on how dangerous the adventure is. But Kurtax would never let me hear the end of it if I didn’t take him along. He’s this big sort of glowing alien guy in the book. Anyway, he’s seen all kinds of battles in his lifetime. He’s definitely got your back in a fight. But he’s way more of a sugar fiend than I am.

Me: Really?

Raffin: Oh yeah. If there’s candy or something sweet left out, it’s like gone. You have to be quick with fresh baked cookies and stuff when he’s around.

Me: Speaking of being quick, If you were given thirty seconds on television to say something, what would it be?

Raffin: I don’t really like being in the spotlight, so It would probably be something stupid, like ‘hi’ before ducking my head into my shoulders and quickly walking off camera.

Me: So no public service announcement jobs for you anytime soon.

Raffin: I don’t think people really want to hear the words, “You don’t really want to know what’s out there-”. So yeah, no announcements from me anytime in the near future.

Me: What is your idea of an incredibly romantic date?

Raffin: Any time spent alone with my girlfriend, Ari. She is incredibly sexy, and she can’t see it. It doesn’t matter what we do, even just talking is great. As long as I’m with her it doesn’t matter.

Me: I think every girl in American is wishing you were single right now.

Raffin: Okay, next question.

Me: If you could go on a date with with someone famous, who would it be and why?

Raffin: No idea, again I don’t really like being in the spotlight, and anything celebrity just screams ‘in the spotlight’. And here I ended up being a sort of hero of my own story - go figure, right?

Me: Do you have a favorite song?

Raffin: Oh boy. I listen to a lot of different music from a lot of different worlds. My mom has soft rock playing on the radio in the house on Earth because that’s what her parents listened to when she was a kid growing up. But other than that I don’t constantly play any one type of music.

Me: If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

Raffin: I like the energy rich planet Navea. It’s warm and the best vacation spot, that is when there aren’t invading aliens threatening it. Plus there’s a palace, well two palaces actually. But that is kind of a tricky subject to get into.

Me: How so?

Raffin: It’s talked about a lot in Shadow Born, so you’ll see if you read the book.

Me: Alright, well why don’t you tell us seven things about yourself that we probably don’t know yet.

Raffin: Seven things? Okay, here it goes...

1.) I’m not a fan of jalapeño peppers.

2.) I like the color black because it lets me blend in with the shadows. And I’ve spent a lot of time doing that.

3.) I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but I feel kind of short sometimes, because I look up to everyone in my immediate circle of friends and family, except for my mom and my girlfriend, Ari.

4.) I actually tried filing my Raffulan fingernails down as a kid, so that I wouldn’t keep shredding the bed spread. But my nails were tougher and sharper than the metal file I tried to use.

6.) I’m not a hero. Everybody seems to think I am, but I’m not. I’m just trying to do the right thing when situations arise or things go horribly wrong.

7.) I love Halloween. It’s the one day of the year when I don’t need a disguise or hooded clothing. And every year when I go out just as I am - I get congratulated on my ‘costume’.

Me: Okay, I’m going to ask a more personal question this time. If you had a choice to be Human and only Human for the rest of your life, would take it?

Raffin: When I was younger, absolutely. Being half human and something else when your a kid on Earth is a total pain in the butt. You have to keep yourself hidden all the time. People tend to panic when they find out about something they don’t understand. In my experience, anyway.

*pauses*

But I’ve learned that I have a lot of strengths I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t something ‘else’. That said though, I wouldn’t be me without my human experiences.

Me: Okay, going off the strength thing, what is your greatest fear?

Raffin: Uh, yeah - pass on that one.

Me: Now, being our ‘hero’ who would you say is your greatest enemy?

Raffin: Actually I am kind of my own worst enemy, but I won’t give too much away, you’ll have to read the books to find out more about that.

Me: Last question Raffin, finish this sentence: ‘On a good day’...

Raffin: On a good day nothing goes wrong, and I can sit back and enjoy it. That or I get to visit the planet Navea and hang out at the palace in the city of Aria.

-Well that’s it for the interview questions, thank you so much for having us as guests on the blog. It was a blast! :)

Eighteen-year-old Raffin has been in hiding on Earth since before he was born, but he’s more comfortable in the shadows anyway. He’s part of one of the most hated races in the universe. It’s a secret he’s forced to keep from everyone he meets.

On his first day at a new high school, Arianna Val crashes into his world, literally. One tumble on the track field and suddenly she’s acting like they’re best friends. Worse, Raffin doesn’t mind her invading his shadows — and that’s before he realizes she knows his secret. But, she’s not quite human, herself and her very life force is what Raffin needs to survive.

Can he trust her to keep his secret? Can he trust himself with Ari when his body yearns to drain her soul? Assailed by memories of death and destruction that aren’t his own, Raffin has to come to terms with the truth. He is shadow born.

A little more about the author and how to connect with her. :)

Author Bio:

Author Nicole Camp has written three books to be published by Entranced Publishing. Her first book, "Shadow Born" will release Oct. 14th, 2013; followed by "Shadow Throne" in Spring 2014.

Nicole is an ice cream lover, who lives in Arizona with her family and pets. When not writing, she likes to explore the world through photography, snapping pictures of her surroundings.